Nadal, Tennis's Snuffleupagus

He looked like a zillion billion bucks. Of course he did. Did you expect Brando Nadal, plopping into a chair in a silk muumuu at this hotel restaurant on Central Park South? No, no, no. Rafael Nadal was playing himself into what already appeared to be very good shape. Everyone knew this, did they not? He'd just finished a series of tuneup tournaments in South America and Mexico; just 36 hours before, he'd tuned up his friend and fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the Mexico Open final in Acapulco, surrendering two games in a match that lasted as long as a Ramones lyric. Yes of course there were caveats. These tournaments were low-level affairs. Nadal was playing on red clay, which for him is like wrapping himself in a childhood blanket. But Rafael Nadal was looking like Rafael Nadal again. Finally. This was good.

He was in Manhattan for Monday's BNP Paribas Showdown, an annual one-night hit-n-giggle at Madison Square Garden. Nadal's opponent on this night was to be Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, a former U.S. Open champion, the world No. 7, a gifted baseliner and hoverer in the tennis elite. Opening up—were they really opening up? Serena vs. Vika appeared to be such a glossier prime-time match—women's No. 1 Serena Williams would square off with promising nemesis Victoria Azarenka. This was exhibition tennis, meaningless in the rankings, performed for show. Hit some balls, entertain the room, thrill the swells, don't hurt yourself. It would suffice for late winter in New York.

For Nadal it was another tentative step. It had been seven months since he'd been stunned in the second round at Wimbledon and vanished from the sport. A knee injury was blamed, and at first, it seemed the absence would be brief, but it kept dragging; Nadal missed the Olympics and the U.S. Open and the early winter season, and ruled himself out of an expected return at the Australian Open with a stomach bug. The men's game had pushed forward, but it was hard not to feel a void. No one was ready to say goodbye to Rafa. Not yet. He is only 26, one of tennis's most physical players ever, the maestro of that crazy, loopy Western forehand, an 11-time Grand Slam winner who'd already dropped a massive footprint on the sport. Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic…and no Rafa? This had been like watching your favorite band with a guest drummer. Pretty close. Not bad. But not the same.

So here he was, the Neon Snuffleupagus, live in the flesh, steps from Columbus Circle, dressed head-to-toe in electric-colored Nike. Though Williams, Azarenka and del Potro were all in attendance, Nadal was the prime focus of the morning news conference. He was asked about the easy win over Ferrer in Mexico and his decision to play next week in California on the hard courts at Indian Wells. He said his health was improving, that he was beginning to trust his body. "Last week I started to feel much better," Nadal said. "I started to feel free to run to every ball, and that is fantastic news for me."

The absence had exasperated him. How could it not? Setbacks stifled his return. Recovery treatments were alternated. Progress was slow. "It is not nice, not easy to accept," he said. The game moved on without him. In his wake, Andy Murray has asserted himself as a major champion, moving upward in the rankings, where he was now positioned at No. 3. Nadal is an awkward fifth, behind Ferrer. There's still some hard-court season left, and Nadal has been grousing about it, feeling the surface agitates his worn knees. He'll have that to deal with at Indian Wells, plus a far deeper field than he faced in February. The full Big Four will be represented, for the first time since June 2012. Djokovic has been throttling the ATP lately; he's undefeated in 2013. "That will be a big test for me," Nadal said of the tourney. He called his recovery "a process."

The true test will come in late spring in Paris, where Nadal will defend his 2012 title at the French Open, a tournament he's won an astonishing seven times. Roland Garros in red is the Nadal experience in full. That's when we will really know where he is. Monday night at Madison Square Garden? That was for fun. Make some money. Smile. Be careful. Be here in September when it matters. Rafa was in New York. Rafa was in tennis. He'd been missed.

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